Blues-Avalanche Preview

Associated Press

Two weeks ago, the St. Louis Blues were enduring a lengthy slide. Now, though, they're on the brink of a perfect road trip.

Seeking a season-high fourth straight win, the Blues wrap up their three-game trip Wednesday as they visit the Colorado Avalanche.

St. Louis (8-8-2) lost six straight games from Oct. 30-Nov. 12, but has bounced back by collecting at least a point in its last five contests (4-0-1). That stretch has been capped by three straight one-goal victories, including a 1-0 shootout win Tuesday at Nashville.

"We got two points, and we battled our way to get them," said Chris Mason, who made a career-high 47 saves through overtime, then turned aside both attempts he faced in the tiebreaker for his first shutout of the season and the 13th of his career.

Thanks largely to Mason's efforts, St. Louis won despite being outshot 47-17. The Blues also killed off five penalties, and have allowed just one power-play goal in 34 chances over the last six games.

"We can play a lot better than we did," Blues coach Andy Murray said. "We did not have as many shots, but we did have some good chances."

Murray's team is succeeding despite a slew of injuries. Center Andy McDonald - the Blues' leader with 18 points - is expected to miss eight weeks after breaking his left leg on Nov. 16, and he's just one of seven players on the injured reserve list.

St. Louis made a trade Monday, sending high-scoring right wing Lee Stempniak to Toronto in exchange for center Alexander Steen and defenseman Carlo Colaiacovo.

The Blues have won three straight road games, including the first two of this trip. Another victory Wednesday would be the third in their last four visits to Colorado.

Colorado (9-11-0) is also dealing with injury woes. The Avalanche placed right wing Darcy Tucker on injured reserve after he hurt his knee in Monday's 4-1 loss at Anaheim. He's expected to miss about four weeks.

Defenseman Adam Foote (back, neck), forward Wojtek Wolski (head) remain sidelined indefinitely, while captain Joe Sakic will be re-evaluated before the game. Sakic missed five straight games with a back injury before undergoing an emergency root canal that prevented him from playing against Anaheim.

The absences seem to be taking their toll on Colorado, which has dropped three of its last four games and eight of 12.

The Avalanche gave up a pair of power-play goals Monday and lost to the Ducks despite holding a 30-24 edge in shots on net.

"The bottom line is they didn't play that great, we played really bad," said Ian Laperriere, who scored the only Avalanche goal.

Peter Budaj gave up three goals on 19 shots before being replaced by Andrew Raycroft, but is likely to start Wednesday. Budaj is 4-3-0 with a 2.36 goals-against average in eight career games versus St. Louis.

Mason, meanwhile, has a 1.87 GAA in seven career games versus Colorado - four of them wins.

These teams split their four-game series in 2007-08, with each winning once on the other's home ice.